The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia to urgently deploy public order units to protect hospitals and clinics from being blocked by anti-migrant groups such as Operation Dudula.
This follows reports of foreign nationals being prevented from accessing healthcare services in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Activists from Operation Dudula and March on March have been accused of intimidating vulnerable people at public facilities.
The DA condemned the actions as “despicable” and stressed that South Africa’s Constitution guarantees the right of all people, regardless of nationality, to access healthcare — including reproductive and emergency treatment. The party warned that denying care could spark widespread outbreaks of communicable diseases that would endanger South Africans as well.
“South Africa’s health crisis is the result of corruption and mismanagement, not desperate people seeking medical care,” the DA said. It argued that groups like Operation Dudula were scapegoating migrants instead of demanding accountability from provincial leaders who continue to fail patients.
The party also questioned why Gauteng’s government still has not provided cancer patients with radiation therapy despite a court order. “It’s easier to blame vulnerable foreign nationals than to clean up the mess in their own backyard,” it said.
EFF leader Julius Malema added his voice, calling Operation Dudula “a group of thugs” and urging authorities to investigate the movement for fuelling xenophobic tensions.
The DA reaffirmed that healthcare is a basic right, not a privilege. “Stopping communicable diseases demands that every sick person be treated in public health facilities. Healthcare belongs to us all, no matter where we come from.”